Puppet Pattern

I've been thinking of creating a generic puppet pattern that would be good for beginning puppet builders to use and at the same time offer more skilled puppet builders a good starting point. Well a friend has nudged me from merely thinking to doing.

I have been asked to build a puppet for a friend that is an elementary school teacher. She has left the design entirely up to me and I have decided to take this as an opportunity to create the pattern for the generic puppets. Hopefully in the next few weeks you'll be able to check back and see the results of this puppet build and it won't be too long after that that I will be offering the pattern.

Just to warn you though there will be a small cost if you wish to get a pattern for yourself. This way I'll be able to come up with some money to cover all the puppet projects I'm dreaming of. I haven't figured out all the particulars yet but we'll keep you posted as things progress.

VBS Project

A few weeks ago my wife suggested that I employ my talents for puppet building and working with children in the task of creating a Vacation Bible School Program. So I've accepted this as a challenge.

Right now I busy thinking through and mapping out the themes and lessons that will be taught in the course of the program. There will be two puppet segments in each of the programs one set in Lilac Hollow and the other in the Bible. My thought is that I will use the Lilac Hollow characters to act out the Bible story.

I'm also thinking of putting together a package of scripts, DVD's, Music and craft ideas so that I can market the VBS program to churches. Right now I trying not to think too much about the scope of the project because I don't want to become overwhelmed.

First I'll write the scripts, then I'll record the videos. We'll see what happens after that.

Photo Gallery

Here is a gallery of many the puppets I have made.

Adam Ant

I finished Adam Ant today. I am very happy with the way he turned out. He might just be my favorite puppet so far. The mechanism works perfectly. The hard hat fits perfectly and he's just down right cute.

I've decided that Adam and his family are going to be latino. This gives me the opportunity to introduce additional cultural elements to the Johsua Junebug series. At the same time accents are very helpful in generating new voices.

I am planning to introduce a brother and sister to the cast as well.

Free Puppet Head Pattern

I've decided to post the basic pattern for the heads I have been building for the Joshua Junebug series of puppets. In reality this pattern is just the starting point. So far only Joshua has used this exact pattern. All the others have been modifications. I post this so that others who are just beginning building puppets will have something to help them understand how to shape foam.




Enjoy.

If you would like a higher resolution copy of this pattern I'd be happy to email one to you.

PS: I have posted a video tutorial for building this pattern on You Tube. Hope this helps too.

Adam Ant

I'm working on an ant puppet, for the Joshua Junebug and Friends project. At this point I'm planning to name him Adam. In many ways the process of the build is similar to the termite build the major difference, other than cosmetics, is the internal mechanism. I decided that I wanted the mechanism to be small enough for the puppeteers hand to fit inside the puppet and still work it. It took a bit of thinking but I was able to come up with a new design.

The bulk of the mechanism is made out of 1/2 inch pvc tubing. The spring is a section I cut from a old fashion screen door spring. this spring is secured by forcing it into the top of the pvc tubing. The bottom jaw is made out of a wood dowel whittled down so that it would fit snugly into the spring. The trigger is made from a 1 inch dowel. I drilled a 3/4 inch hole through the dowel and then carved the dowel down to prevent finger pinching and cut a grove to prevent pressure points on the fingers. 14 gauge wire secures the trigger to the bottom jaw.

The mechanism works great. I think I'll probably use this design for all my new rod puppets.

Background Completed

Well, I've finished the outdoor background. I wanted it to have a coloring book kind of look to it and I think I succeeded. You notice that I made some minor alterations to the hills in the picture. I thought this change and the dark outlining for a few of the elements would help to give the picture more depth without making it too complicated.



I painted it with high gloss, Rustoleum, water base paints. Their selection of colors is limited but by mixing them together I was able to get basically any color I wanted. All in all I very happy with the result.